Ah, Venice by alice310
by HappyBirthgrey
Summary: Edward and Bella visit Venice, but don't quite get around to leaving their room.


**Ah, Venice**

** By alice310**

**Prompt: E/B awkward smut.**

**Happy (very belated) Birthday queenofgrey!!**

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**Necessary disclaimer: Twilight is owned by Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**A/N: Massive thanks to Sobriquett, izzzyy, and gangsterdorothy who helped me beta this monster. Thanks also to justaskalice for last minute assistance. This is the official surrender of my lemon cherry (that makes sense, right?) I hope it's good for you ;)**

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The light on the other side of my lids was too bright for anything other than daylight. I stretched, not wanting to open my eyes quite yet. An arm snaking around my waist and cool breath in my ear answered my movement. I rolled slightly backwards to press myself against the body behind me.

"Good morning, love," Edward murmured in my ear.

I cracked my eyes open slightly, and closed them again almost immediately. In that instant I took in a few details of the room around us. The light was grey, almost greenish, and the air was wet. It smelled old, but not stale. The room was unexpectedly sparse, containing just the bed, one armchair, and a low table. It seemed very intimate somehow. The walls were faded cracked plaster and brick, slightly worn, and light flew across the floor from open balcony doors.

I recalled that we'd landed at Treviso shortly after sunrise. Edward had bundled me into a taxi and I must have fallen asleep because I couldn't remember the rest.

"Good morning." My voice was rough. I rolled over to face him, our bodies just inches from each other. "Where are we?" I had expected something so much grander than this room from him.

"Somewhere no one will expect us to be." It didn't sound like he intended to elaborate.

"Then no one will mind if we stay in this bed a while longer?"

"We can stay as long as you want, love." I felt him tuck the blankets in around me and I drifted off again.

When I came to a second time I felt much more rested. I sat up, slowly rubbing my eyes. I noticed that sweats and a t-shirt had replaced the jeans and cotton shirt I'd worn to travel. My bra was also gone. My brow furrowed as the implications of this washed over me.

Edward was sitting in an ornate chair across the room, and he was watching me. I gestured to my shirt.

"Did you…?"

He knew what I meant immediately. "Yes. Don't be silly, Bella. You needed to rest, and that wasn't going to happen in jeans."

"But you—" I stuttered, trying to articulate myself.

He frowned. "You're not upset, are you?" To my annoyance I felt a blush creep across my face.

"No," I said, looking down at my hands. I twisted my fingers together and he was immediately next to me, his arms curling around me. He waited, seeing that I would say more. "I'm just surprised, when we've never…" I trailed off again, embarrassed.

"You know that I would never take advantage of you like that." Of course he would think that was my worry.

"No…" I said again, wishing I didn't have to explain. My discomfort was preferable to his self-flagellation. "No, it's just that, now you've seen more of me than I've seen of you." He inhaled sharply in surprise and his arms momentarily stiffened around me.

"You know it wasn't like that." I could hear the frown in his voice. Abruptly, I turned around to face him. He was sitting cross-legged, and his expression was tense as I expected.

"Why wasn't it like that, Edward? This is the first time for that…kind of thing, and I know you want to wait and obviously your superpower is extreme self-control, but that is something I just _may_ have wanted to be conscious for." My tone was harsher than I intended. Realization crossed his face.

"I'm sorry, love." His hands flew to my face and he gazed into my eyes. "I honestly thought you wouldn't think anything of it."

"Well, I do. I think a lot of it."

"I'm so sorry, Bella." His hands moved from my cheeks down my throat and around me, and I was gently but inescapably drawn into his chest. My eyes started to sting slightly and I felt myself flush again. I inhaled deeply, trying to steady myself and keep the tears at bay.

"I just… don't you…" I couldn't believe he needed me to explain. "Don't you want me?" I said into his cool shoulder, so quickly that the words blended together, but he understood me.

"Bella, you can't possibly have any idea how much I want you." He paused for a moment, stroking my hair. "In every way," he added, his tone darkening slightly. Then more gently, "You know that certain things simply aren't possible now." I moved back to sit on my heels, my knees angled away from one another.

"Sometimes I just can't tell," I mumbled, looking down. I was baiting him, something I hardly ever did, but this was getting ridiculous. His fear of hurting me was an elephant in the corner of every room, every single time he touched me. His fingers trailed to my chin and nudged my face upward, forcing me to look at him. He was right there, his lips suddenly very close to mine.

"Bella." He said my name huskily and curled his fingers lightly under my jaw, the smallest hint of what was coming. His lips brushed mine quickly but very earnestly and he said, "Bella, it's no longer a question of wanting." His sweet breath fanned around my face as he spoke. "I need you more than my own existence, you must understand that, but I could kill you. If we…" He kissed me again, and this time his lips lingered over mine, which gave me a chance to respond without words.

I nipped at his stone lips, wanting to be playful, to lift him out of this frustration for a moment. I also wanted him with no qualifications whatsoever. There weren't enough words to tell him, no way to explain verbally. I scooted closer to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck. He unexpectedly did not push me away, but held me gently against his body.

"Edward," I whispered in his ear, "I feel the same, I do, but sometimes I just don't have the words to say." My fingers danced on the back of his neck and through his hair, and my nose traced the edge of his ear. "Do you know what I mean?" I pressed my lips to the edge of his ear and drew my face back down to the crook of his neck. He had stopped breathing. I draped myself over him, pulled myself into his lap, my legs still folded under me, now around his hips, not knowing how else to explain myself. Then I felt his fingers, arms, curl around me and he exhaled raggedly.

He lifted his head from where it rested on my shoulder and did to me what I'd done to him. His touch left a trail of ice and fire in its wake, and when his lips reached my earlobe I felt him draw it between his trembling lips and then slide away. Immediately I turned and found his lips with mine.

This kiss was different. This time our bodies were flush against each other and we moved almost rhythmically together, lips tangling and teasing, our fingers drawing invisible tattoos on the other. Icy, silver warmth began building in my belly as I realized what part of Edward was pressed against me there.

"Bella," Edward almost moaned into my lips. His thumbs traced my sternum and I gasped when his fingers seemed to graze the soft, heavy flesh of my breasts.

The shirt had to go immediately if not sooner. I grabbed a handful of fabric at the base of my neck and leaned back to pull my head through, my back arching as I did so. When the shirt was part way off, my chest still covered but my back completely bare, I saw his eyes boring into mine.

"Wait," he said, a little breathless. His hands came up to my shoulders and he peeled the shirt slowly down my arms. He watched it fall onto the blankets. "You're right," he said intensely, without looking up. "This is an occasion where I have no words myself." He lifted one hand and traced a pattern on my navel before moving upward to the uncharted territory of my chest. His finger spiraled excruciatingly around my skin and I arched towards him with every breath.

At last his fingers reached my quivering nipples. He brushed them with the pads of his fingers, his touch maddeningly light. I hissed when his hands finally covered me and I leaned into him, breathless. The intensity was almost overwhelming, but he ducked his head to press his lips to mine again and I was abruptly awash in new sensations, the breadth of them giving me some distraction from the former knife-edge I'd been balanced on.

His hands snaked around my back and pulled me into his chest. He seemed to melt against me, which surprised me. I found myself frustrated with the texture of his soft, white shirt against me, and that did not surprise me. I tugged at the fabric and I heard his low chuckle. His lips teased at my throat. Refusing to be distracted, my hands flew to his collar I and began pulling blindly at the buttons.

He didn't stop me, and somehow they all fell open under my fingers while he kissed me. When I'd undone the last button he sighed and shrugged the shirt off. His skin was perfect of course. I pressed a hand flat against his chest.

"Lie back?"

I was still asking.

He yielded to the pressure of my hand and lay down on the bed. The movement caused friction at the warmest part of my body, and another blush spread through me, hotter than the other kind of blush, molten. I realized I was straddling him, and I could feel the entire length of him beneath me.

My mind was in a panic, in disbelief that this was really happening, but my body simply wanted more, and it was beyond ignoring. I transferred some of my weight to my knees and tilted my hips over him minutely. His eyes popped open.

"Oh…" he breathed.

"Is that okay?"

"So much better than okay," he nearly growled, and pulled me down on top of him. His hips rolled beneath me and I felt the heat building. I wanted to explore his chest the way he'd slowly and intensely explored mine but my patience was gone. My mouth attached itself to his and he continued to grind teasingly against me, his hands fluttering over my back and arms.

He nuzzled my neck, and he trailed down between my collarbones. I felt his lips brush my breast and I started at the combination of cold and heat. My back arched and my hips rolled against him. He moaned against my breast and the vibration stung me. I writhed against him. I couldn't help it.

"Bella, this isn't how I imagined this would happen." I looked up at him.

"Edward, I mean this in the way that means I love you, but stop talking now."

"Don't you-"

I cut him off. "No."

"But-" he sputtered. I'd never heard him so at a loss.

"No. This is not about words." I felt his body relax slightly.

"Alright, alright," he said into my shoulder. I kissed him slowly, the urgency momentarily diminished, and returned my hands to the waist of his trousers. He returned my kiss almost languidly. It seemed like he was trying not to think about where my hands were, or what they might do, but he wasn't having much success. I ran my hand up his inner thigh and found the bulge where our hips nearly touched. My fingers curled around it and he pulsed in my hand. His body tensed and his kissing became electric.

There was no denying where this was going. He started to reposition his hips against mine, but I pushed his body away from me and sat up quickly. My hands were steady for a change and made quick work of his button and zipper.

Edward was watching me, very closely resembling a statue in his stillness. I inhaled, hooked my thumbs inside the waist of his trousers, and pulled. The fabric slid smoothly down his legs. I couldn't bring myself to look quite yet but my hands crept upward. Edward stopped me by catching my hands in his before I could reach my destination. He met my gaze with one of significance.

"You too?" He was asking as well. I nodded in response, and let him slide my old sweats off my body. I pushed my underwear off too. I didn't want him to see it, even though I knew he already had.

I stood up, wrapped my arms around him, and smiled at him. I wanted him to see that I wasn't scared. His eyes were questioning and he seemed to want me to lead, so I took his hand and pulled him back down onto the bed with me.

We lay on our sides facing each other. At first, just lips and fingers tentatively explored, like cartographers in an uncharted country, but the kisses grew elastic and I felt myself winding tight, coiling deep in my belly. His hands found my hips and dragged me so our bodies were flush against each other, all the while watching me to make sure this was the right thing to do.

Oh, it was. I'd never felt anything like this, my wetness and softness against his cool hardness. I began kissing him again and the same coiling sensation deep within me made my body hum, almost vibrate, with its intensity. As we kissed, he slid over my opening and across my clit again and again. I rocked with him and my breath rasped through my throat, echoing on the bare walls. I changed the angle of my hips just at the upstroke and I felt the head of his cock slide barely inside me. We both gasped and stilled.

"Bella," Edward groaned. "Just let me…" He leaned back, pulling out of me. Then he vanished, but was back beside me in bed almost instantly. He held up a small grey foil packet. I was puzzled.

"But I thought we wouldn't need…"

"Shh, Alice packed them." Well, that explained it. Who was I to argue with Alice? I rolled over and reached for the condom.

"At least let me do that part then."

"Alright."

I ripped the package open and examined the contents. It looked similar enough to one I'd put on a banana in health class. Yes, this was the right side out. Once I'd figured out the logistics I crawled back over to Edward. He was lying back on the bed and he looked, wow, how would this work? Now really wasn't the time to be having doubts.

I straddled his thighs and looked down to consider him in detail. He was, of course, perfect. Everything about him was perfect. I couldn't help myself from stroking my palm from the base to the tip of his erection. He moaned and writhed, his hips jerking minutely.

"Oh, God," he said hoarsely as I repeated the action. "Please, Bella." I put the condom over the top of his cock and rolled it over him slowly, squeezing as my hands traveled down. I cupped his balls in my hand and I felt the growl move through his entire body. Suddenly, I was on my back and his cock was teasing my entrance. Need pulsed through me, and my hips lifted. He growled again as the tip of his cock found its way inside me.

"You really want to do this?" he asked through his teeth. He was still asking, even now when he was practically overcome.

"Yes," I said almost desperately. "Do you? Honestly?"

"Oh yes, my love." His voice was strained, and I felt him push into me a little further. "You must tell me if anything hurts you."

"I think this always hurts the first time, so please can we just get it out of the way?" He surprised me by laughing a little, albeit breathlessly. I felt myself opening as he pressed into me, and it felt more like pressing than anything else. I relaxed as I realized it wasn't going to be anywhere close to as bad as I was expecting. When I exhaled I felt him slide more deeply inside me and then still as his hips met mine. My eyes rolled back in my head as I processed the sensation of Edward inside of me.

"Bella?" he panted. I tucked my hips upward and he sucked in a breath.

"It's… do I have to talk?" I let my hips fall and he gasped again.

"No." He shook his head, almost frantically apologetic. "No."

"I'm alright. I'm perfect, Edward."

We had fit together. We would do this together. I moved again and this time he followed me, slowly. I truly couldn't form another word as we began moving together in earnest and the pleasure overcame me. His hips remained flush with mine, and we found a long, slow wave of movement that surrounded us like tight elastic.

I felt like I might violently catch fire, as if I were a firework or gunpowder. I was mindless now; I could only exist within this elastic connection between us. I heard noises in the far distance again, panting and strained moaning. I suddenly realized I was the one making those sounds. Then I simply stopped caring. I strained my hips towards him and he slipped a hand between us to press his thumb against my clit, and I exploded around him. I felt the pattern of his movement fray, and then tensed and pulsed inside of me with a sound that would never have a hope of being encompassed by words.

I wasn't sure how long I lay still. If he left me for a moment, I wasn't aware of it. I was floating somewhere else. I felt a slight movement next to me, and that brought me back into my body somewhat. I opened my eyes to see Edward watching me intently. I felt his fingers trail down my body, moving slowly from my sternum to the patch of hair between my legs and back again. I smiled, and I tried to show all of the peace, bliss, and perfection of that moment in my smile. His eyes twinkled back at me.

"I think I'm starting to really like Italy," I informed him. He chuckled and pulled me against him. We lay there together, listening to each other breathe without speaking, and I was, indeed, perfect.

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**A/N: Well, I don't know about you guys, but I may need a cigarette after that. Whew. ****I would very dearly love it if you lovely people would leave reviews, since it was, you know, my first time ;) **Thanks so much for reading, and again very happy late birthday to Jes! 


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